TWO TOP PLAYERS OUT OF TOURNEY

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31027, 5 April 1966, Page 19

TWO TOP PLAYERS OUT OF TOURNEY

Compensation for the absence of two leading Freyberg Rose Bowl candidates, E. H. M. Richards and J. R. Broadhurst, is offered by a strong country contingent in the entries for the Christchurch Golf Club’s Easter tournament, which begins at Shirley on Saturday.

Leading the field is D. R. Hope, now on a handicap of plus one —the only Canterbury player to achieve such a mark, in recent times other than R. C. Murray and K. D. Foxton. Since the Wills Masters at Russley towards the end of last year, when he was third amateur, equal with J. M. Lister of Highfield, Hope has had some very fine rounds. At the Wills, he had a 69; there was a round of 68 at

Waitikiri in the second round of the Woodward Cup, several rounds of 70 at Harewood, including two in the final of the club championship, and a 69 at Shirley. There was also a 68 in the Kaiapoi Open, before the Wills. The scratch players at the week-end are R. C. Clements. B. V. Watt (Timaru) and W. I. Tucker. Clements won the match play event last year, and Tucker, if a disappointment at Russley in the Canterbury stroke championship, could very well be to the fore on his home course. There are 12 competitors

on a one-handicap. They are M. W. Stanley, A. W. Robinson, A. T. Baxendine, H. J. Gosset, L. Elder, A. E. Woodfield, J. F. Logie, J. A. Orr. B. L. Clegg, R. K. Atkinson. B. Bradley (Amberley), and Lister, "With almost as many on two. Although he is now out to three, G. P. Vesty of Timaru, appeals as a useful candidate for the match play event.

The Christchurch Easter championship is the last of the major events before the selection of the Canterbury team to defend the Freyberg Rosebowl at the Grange course in Auckland. Broadhurst and Richards, not available for this tournament, are almost certain of places. So are R. E. Clements, R. K. Atkinson and Hope. There is a considerable field competing for the last place, in it M. W. Stanley, J. F. Logie, J. A. Orr, R. B. Townsend, P. Cleland and B. A. Colquhoun—and Colquhoun is another who can not compete at the week-end. It is an intriguing situation, for there are others, such as B. L. Clegg, P. J. Amos, Baxendine, and A. J. Allison, who need only to perform well at Shirley to be strongly in the running.